Battle of La Forbie (1244): Crusader Defeat near Gaza

The Battle of La Forbie, known in Arabic sources as Harbiyya, was fought on 17–18 October 1244 north-east of Gaza. An army of the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt, as-Salih Ayyub, together with Khwarazmian mercenary cavalry, destroyed the forces of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and their Muslim allies from Syria. Coming soon after the sack of Jerusalem, it was the heaviest Frankish defeat since Hattin in 1187.

Background

After Frederick II’s Sixth Crusade, Jerusalem was again in Christian hands. The Ayyubid family that had ruled since Saladin was divided, and the Franks were drawn into its quarrels. In 1244 they allied with as-Salih Ismail of Damascus and al-Nasir Dawud of Kerak against as-Salih Ayyub of Egypt, in return for promises that included control of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

As-Salih Ayyub sought allies of his own and invited the Khwarazmians to join him. These were Turkish horsemen from the former Khwarazmian Empire, which the Mongols had overthrown in the 1220s, as described in the article on the Mongol conquest of the Khwarazmian Empire. Since then they had lived as roving mercenaries in northern Mesopotamia.

In the summer of 1244 a large Khwarazmian force, estimated by some sources at 10,000 riders, swept south. They took Jerusalem, whose defences were weak, in July, and in August 1244 the remaining garrison surrendered and the city was sacked. Many of the Christians who left were killed on the road. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was looted. The Khwarazmians then joined the Egyptian army near Gaza.

The battle

The allied army gathered at Acre and marched south. The Frankish contingent included the barons of the kingdom under Walter IV of Brienne, count of Jaffa, and Philip of Montfort, with large forces from the Templars, Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights. The Muslim allies were led by al-Mansur Ibrahim of Homs, a capable general, with troops from Damascus and Kerak.

Al-Mansur reportedly advised the allies to fortify their camp and wait, expecting the Khwarazmians to drift away. The Frankish leaders preferred to attack. The Egyptian army was commanded by Baybars, a mamluk of as-Salih Ayyub, not the later sultan of the same name.

On 17 October the allies attacked. The Franks on the right made some progress against the Egyptians, but the Khwarazmians fell on the Damascene troops in the centre, who broke and fled. The Kerak contingent also gave way. Al-Mansur’s Homs troops fought hard but were nearly annihilated. The next day the Frankish army, now isolated, was surrounded and destroyed after hours of fighting.

The Matthew Paris drawing of the battle, made in England within a few years, shows how quickly news of the disaster spread through Europe. Letters from the surviving leaders of the military orders and from the clergy of the kingdom described the defeat and appealed for urgent help from the West.

Losses

Exact numbers are not known. Contemporary letters and chronicles suggest that several thousand Franks died and about 800 were taken prisoner. A letter preserved by the English chronicler Matthew Paris says that only 33 Templars, 26 Hospitallers and 3 Teutonic Knights escaped. The Templar master Armand de Périgord was killed or captured, the Hospitaller master William of Châteauneuf was taken prisoner, and Walter of Brienne was captured and later killed in Egypt.

Consequences

The kingdom’s field army was gone. As-Salih Ayyub took Damascus in 1245 and the Frankish fortresses of Tiberias and Ascalon in 1247. Jerusalem never returned to crusader rule.

In Europe, news of the sack of Jerusalem and the defeat stirred calls for a new crusade. In December 1244 King Louis IX of France, recovering from a serious illness, took the cross, beginning the Seventh Crusade. The battle also strengthened as-Salih Ayyub’s corps of mamluk soldiers, who would seize power in Egypt a few years later.

Why the allies lost

Several factors explain the scale of the defeat. The allied army was a coalition of former enemies with little trust between them, and its Muslim contingents had no strong reason to die for a Frankish cause. The Khwarazmians were experienced and ferocious horsemen, and their attack fell on the weakest part of the allied line. Once the centre collapsed, the Frankish knights were outnumbered and surrounded.

Many historians also blame the decision to give battle at all. Al-Mansur’s reported advice to wait might have exposed the strains between the Egyptians and their unruly mercenaries. Instead the allies attacked a strong army on open ground near its own base at Gaza.

Timeline

• 1244, spring: The Franks ally with Damascus and Kerak against Egypt.
• 1244, July: Khwarazmian forces break into Jerusalem.
• 1244, 23 August: The citadel surrenders and the city is sacked.
• 1244, 17 October: The allied army attacks at La Forbie.
• 1244, 18 October: The Frankish army is destroyed.
• 1244, December: Louis IX of France takes the cross.
• 1245: As-Salih Ayyub captures Damascus.

Why it matters

La Forbie marked the end of the Kingdom of Jerusalem as a significant military power. From then on the Franks depended on crusades from Europe and on the rivalries of their neighbours, a weakness the Mamluk sultans would later exploit.